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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. file — a line of people
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. march — the month
  5. mate — to breed
  6. shower — to wash
  7. face — to confront
  8. race — a contest
  9. race — the arms race
  10. mate — a friend
  11. face — to point toward
  12. race — humankind
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. file — a tool
  15. march — music
  16. chest — a box
  17. mate — a partner
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — of your body
  20. face — part of the head
  21. file — a document
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. march — the month

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com